Junior running back Vintavious Cooper, who stands just 22 yards from becoming the Pirates’ first 1,000-yard rusher since the halcyon championship days of 2009, is Exhibit A in the argument that the unit has rounded itself out.

“That’ll be a great thing for the offense,” offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said, referring to Cooper’s now likely milestone. “The other thing I like is it’s not like it’s just been him. At the end of the year, you’re going to look and see three or four guys that have carried the ball and been very, very productive.”

Junior running back Vintavious Cooper, who stands just 22 yards from becoming the Pirates’ first 1,000-yard rusher since the halcyon championship days of 2009, is Exhibit A in the argument that the unit has rounded itself out.

“That’ll be a great thing for the offense,” offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said, referring to Cooper’s now likely milestone. “The other thing I like is it’s not like it’s just been him. At the end of the year, you’re going to look and see three or four guys that have carried the ball and been very, very productive.”

Carden, meanwhile, has passed for 2,399 yards and 18 scores, freeing Cooper to pile up yardage.

The Pirates, despite their offense’s misleading moniker, have rushed 391 times and thrown 397 passes. They have averaged 159.1 rushing yards in their seven wins, 96.8 in their four losses and 193.8 over the past four games, going 3-1 in that span.

Riley, who worked on the offensive staff under Mike Leach at Texas Tech for five years before coming to ECU with McNeill, said he’s never had a 1,000-yard rusher on any of his Air Raid offenses.

Cooper, a junior transfer from Southwest Mississippi Community College, views the potential milestone as a “great accomplishment” for the team in his first year at ECU.

Carden said there is much to be read into Cooper’s numbers.

“I think that means a lot,” he said. “That means he is a great back. We pass for a living, but I don’t know ... we must run a lot, too, then.”

The question

Cooper is averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Who holds ECU’s single-season record for yards per carry?

Snapping back

McNeill said he was hopeful that deep snapper Charlie Coggins, who suffered a concussion during last week’s 28-23 win at Tulane, would return to practice this week.

Coggins, a sophomore from Albemarle, handles snaps on the punt team. C.J. Struyk, who handles placekicking snaps, is his backup.

McNeill laughed when recounting his fruitless attempts to test Coggins’ comprehension using numbers this week, comparing the honor roll student to brainy defensive end Matt Milner, an applied physics major.

“He’s so smart,” McNeill said.

“I said, ‘You know what? I’m trying to fool a genius on numbers.’ ”

On this date

The Pirates locked up the first of two consecutive C-USA East Division titles with a 17-13 win at UAB on Nov. 22, 2008.

Earning their keep

Riley mentioned senior backup quarterback Brad Wornick as one of several offensive players who joined the program as walk-ons but blossomed into valuable contributors.

Riley, a former walk-on quarterback at Texas Tech, has a special appreciation for those players.

“This team understands how valuable a scholarship is for these kids,” Riley said. “The guys that don’t have them, it’s tough now. I was a walk-on, so I know. To do this, which is like a full-time job in itself, and then be a student and, on top of it, have to find a way to pay for it — for these guys to come work and earn that is an awesome thing.”

The answer

Glenn Bass carried 100 times for 833 yards in 1960, for an average of 8.3 yards per carry.

David Hall can be reached at (252) 559-1086 or at david.hall@kinston.com.